The academic trip
by brainblast
Summary: Now in high school, Jimmy and Cindy are chosen to represent the school's debates team at the Annual International Debates Tournament. What will the trip culminate into? Read to find out. Please Review!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron but if I did there would have definitely been a fourth season.**

**Chapter 1: The preparation**

"So, precedence is perhaps one of the most frequently employed tools in debating, which is why, I will recommend that you to incorporate them in your arguments as often as you can. Besides –" But before Mr. Edward, their debates coach, could continue to ramble about the various techniques used in public speaking, one of the teenagers who had been hitherto listening to him impatiently, interjected.

"We've already been lectured on these approximately four times to be precise," he spoke as he glanced towards the blonde girl sitting in the seat beside him and she nodded in confirmation.

"And I'm pretty sure that our minds will retain all this even when we arrive in Denmark," the girl said, trying to assuage their teacher's obvious concerns. And then, tilting her head sideways to look at the boy sitting next to her, she added with a smirk, " Unless, of course, one of us drops his abnormally large globe of a head on his way." This invited a glare from him but she simply chose to ignore him.

"Just revise those techniques before we leave for Denmark tomorrow," and then catching the two rolling their eyes at their teacher's inability to put n end to his inclination to repeat, he timidly added, "Fine. Also, get a good night's sleep, I don't want you two dozing off during the debates tournament. We're gonna win this thing!"

As the bell rang, the boy was the first to leave his seat and dash towards the door. As the blonde girl picked up her books and left the class, he spoke.

"Smells like freedom, doesn't it, Cindy?"

"Definitely, Jimmy, I mean, I don't see any point in him teaching us the underlying rules of debating when you have a team that comprises of individuals who've practically spent six years of their lives bickering and trying to quell each other in intellectual arguments," she replied with an air of confidence around her.

"Yeah, it's almost as though we have a whole string of refutations being revealed on us the moment we're confronted with an argument," he joked.

"Hmm, well let's just read through the newspaper articles he gave us last week and I might read a few other books I find in the library – "

"Already done that, I have the statistical data imprinted in my photographic memory, I'd rather spend the entire night working on my lie-detecting spectacles."

"Oh for once forget your ridiculous inventions and that dinghy lab of yours, you big-headed, Mr. I- am- too-cool-to-enhance-my –general-knowledge. You better get those articles done before you find me kicking your but!"

"Watch it Vortex, I might decide to quit the tournament," he replied calmly, feigning indifference, " and then you'll be compelled to go with that Ted lee guy," he glanced over to the blonde, just in time to catch the look of disgust that crept up her face before smiling to himself and continuing, "which will by default make you come to me, pleading for my much needed support," finished.

"Oh and I'd like to see you do this tournament without me!"

"That, I shall be extremely pleased to demonstrate to you."

"Who's gonna tell you to keep your mouth shut when it's not your turn to speak?"

"And who's going to tell you to refrain from strangling the members of the opposing team when you realize that you've earned yourself a score of- I don't know- zero!"

They were inches apart now, both yelling at the top of their voices which made the other students in the hallway plug their fingers into their ears. Nobody dared to say anything for the fear they might be dragged into the ferocity that was being manifested by the two teenagers. They had been accustomed to this now and they also knew that it would never change, not when it came to these two individuals who would go out of their way to flaunt their intellectual superiority and to rub their victory in each other's faces.

"And what are you going to do when a Danish cat comes running after you, having mistaken your head for a chocolate-fudge ice cream!"

"Oh please, Vortex! Ever attempted to put that complex network of neurological veins inside you to use? – Umm, let me think – apparently not! Because you would've known that cats don't fall for chocolate sundaes!"

"Ever paid attention to the fact that above 0⁰C, ice cream melts to form milk or is that soccer ball you call a head too engrossed in containing its pride to pay attention to that!"

"You're a fine one to talk! You're mouth is swollen with enough pride to be distributed to the entire school!"

"Oh why don't you give a thought to donating your dumbness to somebody seeing that you're completely saturated with it?"

"What are you saying, Vortex? Dumbness cannot be distributed!"

"Oh so you finally admit that you are dumb! Ever wondered what you'll do without me?"

His expression softened at this as he replied in an undertone, "Wouldn't want to." And with this, he strode towards his physics class, knowing that he was already late for it.

"Wait- what?" she responded, clearly flabbergasted at the sudden change in his tone. A smile formed at the corner of her lips as she made her way to the Physics class only to find an annoyed Mr. Phillips standing at the doorway, his arms crossed against his chest and his face convulsed into an expression that made it clear that they were in trouble.

"Why is it, that whenever somebody's late, it's always you two!" he finally spoke, endeavoring to suppress fury welling up inside him. The two students cast accusing looks at each other before entering the class, inviting suspicious grins from their classmates and a smirk from Libby, much to their annoyance.

**Please spare a moment to review this chapter, your reviews are all that matter to me because they encourage me to write more! Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2: Goodbye

**Here goes the second chapter for this story. Please be nice enough to leave a review so that I know if I should continue writing this story. =) **

**Chapter 2: Goodbye**

Jimmy stood at his door, dressed in a black buttoned up coat, his hair neatly combed, contrary to his traditional hairstyle. He flung his navy blue bag around his shoulders as his mother enveloped him into a tight hug and he made a failed attempt to extricate himself from her grip.

"Jimmy!" Sheen exclaimed and threw himself over the big-headed genius.

"Careful, Sheen, don't suffocate Jim," Carl remarked with a note of prudence in his voice.

"Please Carl, it's not dangerous unless you have a group of black-hooded aliens with green tentacles who're chasing you like crazy maniacs and trying to envelope you with their merciless grip!" Sheen shot back.

"Sheen, there's nothing like black-hooded aliens with green tentacles," Jimmy responded quietly, clearly exasperated by Sheen's imagination.

Sheen's expression reformed from that of exuberance to that of agitation.

"Jimmy please! How would a non-Ultralord guy like you fathom the possibilities that lie within this world?"

Extremely annoyed with Sheen's obsession with Ultralord, Jimmy shook his head and was quite pleased when this useless conversation was interrupted by Cindy's voice.

"So you finally decided to abandon that ludicrous hairstyle of yours," she spoke in a voice that was surprisingly amiable yet had its usual stream of sarcasm.

He whirled around, expecting to see the smug expression that he had gotten accustomed to by now but the individual who stood before her sent him into a trance that he now frequently found himself in.

Her hair had not been tied up in a ponytail even though her bangs still partially covered her forehead. She was dressed up in a black suit with dress pants that were long enough to cover the straps of her emerald heels. An emerald green blouse peeped from beneath her blazer and a small pendant that hung from a silver chain lay at her neck. Her eyelids shimmered owing to the eye shadow Libby had made her wear and her lips were gleaming from the peachy-pink lipstick that she had put on in a hurry.

In normal circumstances, he would have convinced himself to ignore her appearance and throw a string of insults at her. She would have replied in the same narcissistic manner and soon enough they would have been engaged in a seemingly immortal argument. This, however, would not happen today, not when there was no possibility of ignoring her dazzling appearance, not when they were going to spend the next few days in a foreign land together, not when they were going to team up to win that coveted trophy.

It seemed that he wouldn't be able to snap himself out of this trance but Carl's voice rang in his ears and he soon found himself blushing and fidgeting with his fingers.

"So Jimmy, what exactly is this tournament about?" he inquired in a timid manner.

"It's a competition that instills in you skills that are crucial for the intellectual development of individuals. So, by requiring you to scrutinize and analyze the case on the motion put forward , developing your arguments and then presenting it before the audience, you're able to enhance your ability to formulate thoughts in a logical sequence."

"You-what the case?" Carl questioned, completely perplexed.

"It's analysis, Carl!" Sheen yelled, clearly startling everyone around, " like in Ultralord season 6, episode 124 when the entire planet was analysed by the man-eating ants that – "

"That was annihilating, Sheen!" Libby shouted, clearly vexed by his obsession with Ultralord.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Sorry for not updating soon enough, I'be been really busy with college applications and stuff. Anyway, thank you to those who reviewed. Please review this chapter, it's gets kind of annoying when you find over a hundred people reading your story but only a few of them actually reviewing it.**

" Now I have to spend the next few hours sitting next to Dweebtron!" Cindy complained in her usual seemingly agitated tone.

"Geez Vortex! Do you ever stop complaining? I'm trying to concentrate here!" he replied, his eyes transfixed on his watch as he pressed several different buttons at the same time.

"See! That's what you always do. Preoccupy yourself with some useless gadget as though your life depended on it and then use that as an excuse to ignore me!"

"You should be grateful to me for that."

"For what? For ignoring me all the time, for not letting me be a part of your inventions, for not treating me like an equal, for being too engrossed in your inventions to even talk to me!"

Jimmy tilted his head side wards, and spoke, " I thought you said you didn't want to sit next to me."

"Yeah. I did."

"So why are you getting annoyed by the fact that you're being ignored. Doesn't that make it easier for you to imagine that I'm not there to spoil your time? That's a contradicting statement Vortex."

"Because I do not want to sit next to a big-headed genius who's too full of himself to notice anyone else!"

"That's insane! Why would you want me to notice you?" Even as he said this, he already knew the answer to that but no, she would never admit it just like he wouldn't admit how he relished her company. Not today. Perhaps never. He figured that they would never have to because they already knew it too well. Their feelings were unsuccessfully concealed behind their arguments and that was how they liked it and if given a choice, they would never have it the other way for this was what defined them.

As the flight took off for Denmark, Jimmy glanced at his watch with an expression that reflected unmistakable pride that Cindy had gotten accustomed to seeing over the years.

"May I, madam, present to you one of the most ground-breaking inventions: the self-adjusting inter-zone watch that makes use of factors such as soil, humidity and the temperature level to automatically adjust its time according to the zone it passes. It has a set of 109 functions embedded in its delicate chip that – " but before he could continue his monologue, Cindy interrupted.

"Enough with the scientific yada yada! Translating it to English, it's one of your inane inventions that will inevitably cease to function within two hours."

"Well, if you'd rather wear a different watch for every time zone, I wouldn't have a problem apart from the fact that it would be excruciatingly uncomfortable to stand next to a funky-looking know-it-all girl whose arm is loaded with a gazillion watches."

"Maybe you should've given a thought to embedding sensors in this watch that could look for clocks fitted in the hotel rooms because your eyes obviously don't have the ability to do that!"

He stuck out his tongue at her and averted his eyes fro her

As soon as they reached Denmark, , along with the to students made their way towards the hotel rooms that had been booked for them.

"Alright, here are the keys, go to your respective rooms, unpack your belongings, rest for a while and meet me in the main dining area at 7 p.m. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, Mr. frost." They both simultaneously replied.

As soon as Mr. Frost left, Jimmy moved closer to Cindy and almost whispered, concerned that their debates coach might hear them.

" What do you say? Want to explore this place before dinner?"

"Of all the people in the entire universe, you're the last person I would ever agree to accompany as you go looking for trouble, but since I'm too tired to be locked up in a room, I'm in!" she replied, trying, perhaps, a bit too hard to suppress the sudden upsurge of excitement in her.

Jimmy, on the other hand, was palpably jubilant. "Alright then, Cindy, meet you at precisely 5:30."

He watched her as she rolled her eyes and strolled away, an air of confidence around him even though he was sure she was completely excited inside .This was Cindy, he thought. Perhaps, the reason why he'd fallen for her. The reason why now no other girl mattered to him. He had realized over the years how inconsequential any of the other girls he had met were. Betty might have been beautiful but she wasn't the perfect girl, not for him at least. And in comparison to Cindy, she was just an ordinary girl, her qualities too mundane for a genius like him. She couldn't challenge him and engage him in intellectual conversations that only they would understand, the way Cindy could, she couldn't stand up to him and remind him that he there was always a possibility of his inventions going wrong, she couldn't ignite in him the zeal to work harder, the passion to engage in that perpetual struggle, nor could she be extremely infuriating yet be so sweet at the same time. In other words, she wasn't Cindy. And then April, the brave Gorlockan he had met at the intergalactic game show had undoubtedly been a good friend with her flattering words but even then she wasn't Cindy. The blonde, he felt, was irreplaceable, exquisite in a way that he loved.

**Not too fluffy! But I think that's what defines JC, I've always felt that they're too intellectually mature for doing the repulsive sort of stuff. So, I prefer to keep it soft yet cute but that, in my opinion, is the very essence of JC. **

**Please review! Means a lot to me! Because when I don't get enough reviews, I don't feel appreciated so it kind of demoralizes me to write more . **


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